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what do the 6 attributes really stand for?
missanitee
Member Posts: 38
Hi Folks, This is a hard question to word but ill give it a try. All the descriptions of a characters attributes. what do they really mean> ie: Wisdom: common sense, perception, self discipline and empathy. How can a character that is a pixel learn these things? Or Int: learns and reasons....so if a character has low int he cant learn stuff like spells? and reasons: to reason is to think so how can a pixel think or reason? Im just not getting it. If any under stands my question can u explain what the 6 attributes really stand for? Ie: int: your health go up with my int. 
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For instance, a character with low INT could be plain dumb, or very sly but uneducated, due to childhood in the wilderness, etc.
For RP purposes, the mental stats determine aspects of what the character can learn and cannot. These are better reflected in tabletop because they directly affect skill-gain and some particular skills.
In D&D 3.5, Inteligence determines the languages you can speak, whether you can actually speak correctly your native tongue (less than 9 means talking like a tribesman) and the number of skills you may know or raise spending skill points.
Wisdom is a mix of willpower, concentration and ability to focus your mind in tasks. A character with high Wisdom is usually a Cleric or a Monk, both classes favoring these traits since they can enter states of meditation more easily with a high Wisdom score. Perception, Sense Motive and other skills that involve concentration and percieving things are affected by Wisdom.
Charisma is the measure of your charm and personality's presence. It's the ability of using your willpower to submit others, be it by making them act friendly towards you or through intimidation. Paladins and Sorcerers hence, are those who benefit more from high Charisma. It isn't the same having a strong willpower than being able to use yours to affect the world surrounding you, though a highly manipulative character has both high Wisdom and Charisma.
Skills that are affected by Charisma are usualy manipulative ones, like Diplomacy, Intimidate of Bluff.
- Titania Silverblade, the Iron Rose of Myth Drannor (Lvl 60 GWF, Destroyer)
- Gwyneth, the Cowardly Cat Burglar Drowling (Lvl 60 TR, Saboteur)
- Lady Rowanne Firehair, Heartwarder of Sune (Lvl 33 DC)
- Satella, Sensate (LvL 44 CW, Renegade, Non-Active)
Check Steppenkat's Foundry Quest Reviews!
Then, why did you answer at all?
One thing that 3.5 and all earlier editions of D&D did, that 4.0 and possibly 5.0 are doing differently...
In older editions of D&D, the stats represented "Raw ability", and most feats, skill ranks or Non-weapon proficiencies and other things generally represented training. This allowed some differentiation in character concepts, such as playing a High Int Fighter, who might have been better off as a Mage, but can do things that most other fighters can't because he's so smart, such as take feats that require High Intelligence or take skills that are not normally associated with a "Dumb Fighter".
I believe in later editions "Stats" are now no longer specifically meant to only mean "Untrained raw ability", and can also represent training, and skill ranks and other features can as well represent "innate ability" if it fits the character.
As far as what each stat means, well, that changes by edition quite a bit especially for the non physical stats.
It's basically the same, only that Intelligence no longer affects the number of skills you learn, but rather the bonus you gain from academic and lore-based skills.
Also, it's really hard to have an Ability Score in 4th edition below 10, as it takes a much more "heroic" approach to the game.
For skill-checks, half of your level + Ability Score modifier + training bonus + misc bonus is what determines the total bonus for the roll. Note that 1/2 acts like "skill points" that were used in the former edition and better reflects the general knowledge your character has of his adventuring by being a high level character. It's a bit silly that a lvl 20 Fighter doesn't know anything about History or even Religion. If he's level 20 it's because he must have learned something, something that the former editions fail to reflect in some way in their character sheet unless the player makes substantial sacrifices.
Hence why I think that 4th ed is better for RPing, as you don't need to worry in making a cookie-cutter build, most work anyways and you can focus your time in actually playing the adventure from level 1-X. No one is useless and there's always room for RP.
- Titania Silverblade, the Iron Rose of Myth Drannor (Lvl 60 GWF, Destroyer)
- Gwyneth, the Cowardly Cat Burglar Drowling (Lvl 60 TR, Saboteur)
- Lady Rowanne Firehair, Heartwarder of Sune (Lvl 33 DC)
- Satella, Sensate (LvL 44 CW, Renegade, Non-Active)
Check Steppenkat's Foundry Quest Reviews!
Lol... Crit fail in reading comprehension.
Thanks for pointing that out, Gummibear2. Yes I believe that was what OP was asking for, need some more coffee.
- Titania Silverblade, the Iron Rose of Myth Drannor (Lvl 60 GWF, Destroyer)
- Gwyneth, the Cowardly Cat Burglar Drowling (Lvl 60 TR, Saboteur)
- Lady Rowanne Firehair, Heartwarder of Sune (Lvl 33 DC)
- Satella, Sensate (LvL 44 CW, Renegade, Non-Active)
Check Steppenkat's Foundry Quest Reviews!
At nam19772, I read your first post as well, it was a non-answer to the RP question if it had been asked by someone with zero Role-playing experience.
There is nothing Passive-agressive about my question to you, it was an honest request to understand why you'd bother taking the time to post something so completely non-helpful, knowing it was non-helpful.
This isn't a classroom, and providing a non-answer in the hopes of making the questioner "think of the answer for himself" is not useful, particularly to someone who may have never even seen a D&D game book, not witnessed anyone playing any RPG beyond "Cowboys & Indians" or "Tea Party".
A moot point now that it's "clear" that this was a poorly phrased question about game play, not Role-playing meaning of stats.
My take on it... (in this game you can mouse over these to see what they do mechanically, so I assume the question is role playing nature?)
Str is easy, its how strong you are. That is the easy one. Its how much stuff you can lift over your head. I typically multiply it by the body size of the being in question. For example a str 30 dragon and a str 30 kobold are not the same......
int is how smart you are. I have always thought of it as IQ, or the "potential to learn things". That is, a 25 int rogue may be *able* to learn 50 languages, but may not be that industrious. Or may be *able* to learn differential equations, but prefer not to have to do that... etc.
wis is a tricky one. Here I think of it as common sense and insight. The wise character may understand an NPC and the motivations for its behavior, and rather than kill the enemy soldier, realize that its just a guy following orders (not even evil) and go for the leaders instead (insight). A wise character sends the rogue in first rather than checking for traps the "hard" way (common sense). That sort of thing.
dex is how nimble and quick you are. Pretty simple most of the time... are you nimble enough to climb a rope, walk a thin ledge, dodge an attack? Many things limit mobility including your body type and limitations (a turtle vs a snake for example).
cha is combined personality (jerk, grouch, friendly, etc) and leadership (do others trust your judgement, right or wrong?). Some apply cha to good looks as well. High typically means other beings like you as a "first impression" but may grow to dislike you in time anyway (or like you more etc). High typically means others will follow you so long as your leadership is reasonable, and maybe even if you make a few mistakes. High sometimes means beauty. Low typically means you are ugly, mean, or shifty.
while we are on it, I also lay out the alignment as selfishness (good vs evil traditionally) and order (anarchy vs law, order vs chaos, etc). If you think about the evil NPCs are usually out for some selfish purpose (take over the region, conquest or acquisition or elimination of rivals --- all for self benefit, sometimes self benefit = appeasing an evil deity though and that may be pure evil (muder everyone for the fun of it because I am amused). Pure evil is rare, but happens, of course, but that is also self serving (derives pleasure from it, somehow, in some twisted fashion). The order and chaos thing usually boils down to whether you believe the ends justify the means.
Strength affects how much of a bonus you get when using a melee attack, intelligence affects how powerful a spell will be, dexterity affects how well you can dodge incoming attacks and hit with ranged weapons, constitution affects damage resistance and hit point bonuses, wisdom affects clerical magic's potency.
It's the same as how they affect your abilities in the pen and paper version of DnD, but translated over to a video game format. If you look at each class and note the primary attribute and the two secondary attribute, it starts to make more sense. For example, the primary attribute of the Trickster Rogue is Dexterity, and the 2 secondary attributes are Strength and Charisma.
Your assumption was correct, and the information available in the game proves it. A fighter with a 20 Strength hits harder than one with a 15 Strength. A Rogue with a 20 Dexterity will dodge better than one with a 15, and so on.